The Florida Sun

Titus 3:1-2 (KJV) 1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. The NLT reads, 1 Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. 2 They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. The theme of this chapter is the church is to perform good works. This epistle gives us the picture which covers the entire spectrum of what God wants for the church. We saw in the first chapter that God wants the church to be an orderly organization. Then we saw in the next chapter that the church is to be sound in doctrine. Now we shall learn that, to be all that God wants for the church, the church is to perform good works. In other words there is a certain way believers should act in our society. The very first thing Paul mentions is the fact that the church must have members who are law abiding. A believer should obey the laws of the land in which he lives unless those laws conflict or contradict his duty and relationship to God. We are to be subject to the principalities and powers over us. A church should teach this; part of the message that should be given to church members is that they should be obedient to the powers that be. That obedience is not to the man or woman but to the office that he or she represents. That’s why I find it so hard to understand when a Christian disrespects the office of President of the United States. This verse also raises the question of whether a Christian should go into politics or not. I believe that the individual Christian is free to go into politics. We need individuals who will enter into government and take social action, but the church as an organization is not called upon to go into politics. “To beready to every good work.” The church is to instruct individuals to be eager, to be anxious, and to learn to perform good works. “Speak evil of no man” in verse two means we are not to repeat gossip. It has been said that you can’t believe everything you hear today, but you can repeat it! That is what he is talking about here because we are not to repeat what we hear. Many evil reports are passed from person to person without even a shred of evidence that the report is true. The point is well-taken: we must be gentle and forbearing in dealing with citizens. The last thing that we must not do is to criticize, condemn, censor, neglect, and ignore each other. We must reach out to the people of the world with the gospel, and we must treat them with a loving gentleness. We must be gentle, having absolutely nothing to do with harshness. Too many of us are harsh and critical or neglectful and withdrawn. Too many of us are wrapped in the cloak of religion having nothing to do with reaching out to the lost. The desperate need of the hour is for us to reach out with the gospel in a spirit of love and gentleness. Here’s the question today. Do you spread gossip and are you harsh?